Hosts Sue Airbnb to Protect Their Private Info From New York Attorney General

An anonymous group of roughly two dozen New York Airbnb hosts, who call themselves “New Yorkers Making Ends Meet in the Sharing Economy," sued the San Francisco-based company Tuesday to prevent their private information from being released to the state's attorney general.

The group claims the release would be a violation of their privacy, according to the lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court.

Airbnb, an online marketplace for people to list and book unique accommodations, provided non-redacted information on 107 hosts who had listed multiple apartments on the site to the attorney general on Tuesday, a source familiar with the case told Mashable. The information included names, contact information, host and listing IDs, and rental and payment information. The company had been asked for information on approximately 130 hosts, but said it refused to provide it for those involved in the suit, pending a court decision.

The release of private information follows an agreement between Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Airbnb made in May, in which the company agreed to provide anonymous information about thousands of New York City hosts. The attorney general's office was to then identify the users it wanted to investigate and ask Airbnb to provide identifiable information.

New York authorities had previously asked for all the information on thousands of users — a request that Airbnb fought and won against in court.

Tuesday's batch of users is the first provided to the government.

"Last month, we followed our normal procedures and notified a small number of hosts that their data had been requested by the New York attorney general under a subpoena," Nick Papas, a spokesman for Airbnb told Mashable. "We will not take action with data from hosts who have previously filed suit until the court makes a decision and we will respect the court's decision."

In the lawsuit, the hosts alleged that the short-term rental site conducted "secret negotiations" with the attorney general, resulting in handing over hundreds of user names without first notifying hosts of changes to privacy terms.

Adam Leitman Bailey, the attorney representing the anonymous hosts, compared Airbnb's actions to "treason," according to The New York Post.

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